Soul Reborn
by xflightofthephoenix
Summary: Sequel To "Slaughter Of The Soul". Something's wrong, is Kai becoming bored of being a bladebreaker...or is it something else?
1. Problem's have to start somewhere

**I'M BACK!!**

**Ok, so I SAID there wouldn't be a sequel for a while…..but I miss writing it, so I decided to get going again!!! Haha.**

**Thanks to RyuuKai for the title!!!**

**This takes place about 6 months after Slaughter of the Soul. **

**It's into the final round of the tournament, best of 3 matches whoever wins 2 or more is the champion.**

**Ray's POV**

"AND NEXT UP IS RAY KON FROM THE BLADEBREAKERS!!! AND ALI FROM HOPE!" Jazzman yelled I grinned and stepped up to the dish, cheers erupted throughout the stadium and my grin widened

"You ready Ray?" Ali asked big-headedly

"Take him down Ray!" I heard Tyson cheering from our team's bench behind me

"Let's get this tournament underway!" Jazzman again screamed, the cheering became louder and I let a small chuckle pass my lips

"3, 2, 1, LET IT RIP!"

I yanked the rip-cord from my shooter, Ali pointed a gun at the stadium floor, a little red laser hit the center of the standard dish, and his blade flew from the gun, smashing into Drigger

"I'm gunna bring you down like a thousand sand-storms!" Ali screamed across the dish, I grinned showing my fangs, He just smirked at me before screaming "Faras!!!" A white horse rose from his blade

"Drigger!" I called on instinct. My faithful Tiger rose from my blade to face the large horse with a strong growl. He leapt forward and soon our blades were clashing constantly, each trying desperately to overpower the other.

Very suddenly my blade clashed into his with such force that I was sent flying back, my head collided painfully with the floor, momentarily dazing me.

"That's gunna leave a mark" I muttered darkly as I struggled to my feet

Both blades were in the center of the dish spinning steadily – or so I thought. Suddenly Ali's blade began to wobble, and I mentally screamed with joy, however this was the finals, and the battle was far from over.

The large white horse was again against Drigger, I cursed under my breath as Drigger snarled at Faras.

"DRIGGER TAKE HIM DOWN!" I called to the white tiger, who lunged in with a powerful attack, as the bit-beasts clashed, I took a few stumbled steps backwards before rushing forward to look into the dish again, to my relief, Ali's blade lay motionless next to my furiously wobbling blade.

"RAY IS THE WINNER!!!" Drigger flew back to my hand and I spun around to look at my team – my head throbbing slightly from my "accident", but none the less I ran over to the team, high-fiving them as I arrived.

"Where's Kai?" I asked, noticing our stoic captain was missing

"Training I think" Kenny began "He's going to be fighting the final round, he just wanted to make sure he's up to scratch"

"I think we can say he'll be fine" Max smiled and I nodded

"Let's make sure you're head is ok when we get back" Kenny smiled as we headed to the BBA bus

"That was a good match Ray" someone behind me complimented, I turned to see Kai walk up to us, he was slightly short of breath, his arms were criss-crossed with small cuts and gashes, together with many fading white scars from his earlier days in the Abbey .

"Thanks" I smiled; Kai nodded slightly and looked beyond me as the other teams walked up to us

"Excellent match Ray!" Robert congratulated me, I smiled slightly embarrassed, it was actually easier than I had imagined it would be.

Mariah suddenly wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug, I just smiled, ignoring the worsening headache I now had.

"Let's get your head sorted out" Emily commanded, I had no problem with her, but she could be SO bossy sometimes.

"I'm fine" I looked over to Kai, who just nodded before turning and walking down another corridor away from us. Tyson raised an eyebrow, but we didn't follow, and headed instead for the BBA bus which would take us back to the Dojo

X on the bus X

Kai sat at the back of the bus, away from everyone, including Tala. He stared out the window for the entire trip, his eyes closing slightly every now and again, he looked like he had overdone the training.

We all made our way into the Dojo and Tyson began talking…..boasting about his "big match" tomorrow

"I'm gunna kick ass out there tomorrow! They won't know what him 'em!" He punched the air and grinned goofily

"Well, it shouldn't be too difficult" I supplied, Tyson laughed and looked over at me

"It'll be a piece of cake! Which reminds me, I'm hungry!" he bellowed before running into the kitchen in search of food.

"Actually, I suppose it is about time for dinner" Mariah stated before walking into the kitchen with Emily. They surprisingly got on very well, and they spent many evenings a week cooking the meals for everyone, that is, when I wasn't.

Tyson came back through moments later with a few bags of crisps, which he threw onto the coffee table, and a few soda's, which he handed around.

"I'm so looking forward to tomorrow!" Tyson shouted once again

"According to Dizzi's data, you shouldn't have too much trouble tomorrow Tyson" Kenny looked up from the glowing screen just as Johnny spoke

"Don't make his head any bigger than it already is" he squinted at Tyson angrily for a moment before chuckling and taking a huge gulp of his drink

"You're just jealous" Tyson stated, causing Johnny to spray his drink over the table in anger.

"Why you little!" He shouted as he jumped up from the sofa he was sat on

"DINNER!" Mariah and Emily shouted in unison, which successfully stopped any fights from starting. As Tyson ran into the kitchen.

We slowly filtered into the kitchen, each grabbing a plate of food as we went. As I began to eat, I noticed Kai not eating anything

"You not hungry?" I asked, he opened one eye and looked at me from his position leaning against the wall, but said nothing.

"You should eat something Kai, you want to be in top form don't you?" Kenny asked as he typed on Dizzi with one hand and ate with the other. Kai's expression went from emotionless to pissed off very suddenly as he glared at the older teen, who hid behind the laptop screen

"Nevermind" Kenny squeaked

Kai still said nothing, but walked over to the door, and left, his scarf swishing behind him as he went into the bitter cold night.

"Just leave him" Johnny said angrily as Tala went to stand up

"Leave him to cool off, we can look after we've eaten" Max suggested as he shoved a fork of noodles in his mouth.

Tyson nodded enthusiastically in agreement as his mouth was so full he couldn't speak.

Tala grudgingly sat back down and continued to slowly eat his meal

XXX

"Right, let's get going then" Max smiled as he readjusted the scarf around his neck so it was tucked into his thick jacket and covered his chin and mouth, to keep him warmer in the cold night air.

"Right! I guess we shouldn't split up. I think Kai will have stuck to the pathways and streets." Kenny explained "It's just a case of getting Dizzi to locate Dranzer!" He opened up his laptop and Dizzi spoke

"Let's get going, when we get on the streets it'll be easier for me to find him"

We ran onto the streets, the orange glow from the streetlamps and the light from the moon helping us to see where exactly we were heading.

"Go left up here!" Dizzi suddenly piped up after about 5 minutes of walking, we took the next left and heaed into another well-lit street

"He's moving fast! Let's get going, at the end of this road, you need to turn right" Dizzi said as we began to run down the road and turned right at the end

"Hrm, you could run down the alley to you're left, that'd get you a lot closer to him, but it's dark so you'd have to be quick"

"The alley it is then!" Tyson suddenly ran off at high speed we followed closely and Johnny spoke

"Why are we even following him?!" he panted

"Because I'm worried" Tala snarled as he overtook Tyson to lead the group

"What if he's been attacked?!" Mariah shouted to the group worriedly.

"If anyone's going to be attacked, it's us running down the dark alley" I called over to her just as the exit of the alley came into view.

As Tala almost reached the road again, a dark figure jumped down from what looked to be an outside flight of stairs (fire escape on the outside of the building).

Tala suddenly stopped in front of the figure, I skidded on the muddy floor, but managed to stay on my feet, as did everyone else.

"Why did I guess you'd follow me" the dark figure stated as a blue beyblade spun around the corner to settle spinning in front of his feet.

"Kai?" Tyson asked

"Dranzer" Kai whispered, just loud enough for my sensitive hearing to catch. The blade glowed red, lighting up the alley enough for us to see Kai, who looked angry – to say the least. He was glaring darkly around, his nose slightly wrinkled with the angry expression which settled on his pale face.

"Why are you here?" he asked venomously

"We were worried" Mariah stepped forward, but jumped back as Dranzer flashed threateningly

"Leave me be" he stated before turning and leaving

X Flashback X

"Leave me be" Kai stated as the freezing water reached his waist, he looked down at the cold water with hatred…

X End Flashback X

"Let's get back" Max said as I snapped out of my memories

Tala walked in the direction of Kai "You head back, I'll see if I can talk to him"

I nodded and we quickly walked back to the Dojo

By the time we arrived, it was almost 9pm. "You should get some rest Tyson, you don't wanna be yawning while they take the picture of the new champions!" Max laughed as Tyson headed off to the bedroom.

Just then Tala and Kai came back inside, Tala nodded discreetly as Kai headed into the bedroom.

"What was up?" I asked as the others went to bed

"Didn't say" Tala looked at me "I'm sure he's fine though"

I nodded and headed for bed myself, it was going to be a long day tomorrow…

XXX

"Get up" someone said none too kindly while nudging me sharply with their foot, I looked up to find Kai waking up the group; I forgot to set the alarm last night….

Thankfully Kai was always up early, and had woken us up just ten minutes after the alarm would have.

Eventually everyone had woken each other up, and Kai wandered off, presumably to train again, which he'd been doing a lot of recently, I guess it was just nerves.

I slowly ate breakfast while Tyson shoveled as much as he could into his mouth before we had to leave.

When we got onto the bus, Kai was once again at the back staring into space outside the window.

"Maybe you should talk to him?" I asked Tala quietly, but he shook his head

"No. Just leave him be" I nodded, Tala understood him most, I SHOULD trust his judgment "He'll tell me what's wrong when he wants to…then he'll tell you"

I nodded, that's the way it always went, he told Tala, who convinced him to tell us.

We pulled into the stadium and headed to help Tyson warm up for his match

"Run." Kai stated with a well aimed glare at Tyson, who immediately set off at a jog around the deserted stadium

Kai just smirked before sitting down on the bench he sighed and sat with a slight slump until Tyson had finished running and was beginning to work on his launch, which Kai had stated was wrong.

After a long while of Tyson re-launching Dragoon, Kai stood up and left without a word, allowing Tyson a hard-earned break.

"He's even more grouchy than usual!" he puffed while flopping on the bench Kai was previously sat on.

"The match starts in an hour right?" Max asked, changing the subject

"Yep" Tyson sat up

"We should get out to the waiting room, before the crowd gets here" Emily suggested while we all headed to the waiting room (I'm sure I've said this before, but it's basically a room with lockers in it)

Kai was sitting on a bench, leaning heavily against the wall when we got into the "waiting" room, however as we began to help Tyson get ready, he straightened up and returned to his usual stoic self.

XXX

"Let's get going Tyson" Max smiled as the hour passed and it was just mere minutes till the match

"Right!" Tyson jumped up and we all headed down to the stadium for Tyson's battle to begin, Kai stayed a few meters behind the entire way, and even as the crowd erupted into cheers as we entered, he slumped on the bench and subtly watched everything going on around.

"Let's go!" Tyson laughed and stepped up to the bey-dish, Kai who was sat next to me, was carefully scanning the audience, which had become a terrible habit, I guess he's looking for Voltaire, or even Boris. His eyes lingered slightly on our friends in the crowd who were cheering madly for Tyson, even though the match had not yet started

Kai's eyes swept over the opposition for a few minutes before settling on the crowd once again

"AND TODAY WE HAVE TYSON FROM THE BLADEBREAKERS AND AHMED FROM HOPE!" Jazzman yelled Tyson began screaming and lapping up the praise as Ahmed mirrored him, receiving considerably fewer encouraging screams

"LET'S GET THIS MATCH UNDER-WAY!" Jazzman screamed "IN 3, 2, 1, LET IT RIIIIIP!!!"

Tyson yanked the rip-cord from the launcher as did Ahmed, and the battle got underway. Neither wasted any time in trying to destroy the other as both blades were crashing into each other.

Tyson laughed loudly, I looked over at Kai when I heard movement, His eyes snapped open and he shot a well aimed glare at Tyson's back before speaking loudly above the clashing blades

"Don't let your guard down!" he snapped to Tyson who briefly glanced back before replying loudly

"This is too easy Kai!" He laughed big-headedly

"CONCENTRATE!" Kai snapped harshly

"Whatever!" Tyson continued to stare at the blades, before I saw what Kai had noticed, although it looked like Tyson was winning, every time the blade crashed into each other, Tyson was pushed back just a little way, Ahmed was clearly using Tyson's power against him, and Tyson who was so wrapped up in the thought of winning hadn't even noticed.

"Tyson!" Max called, having noticed himself "Tyson, he's using your attacks against you, pull back!" he yelled desperately Tyson looked at Max with a smile

"I don't need to!" he called out confidently "DRAGOON!" he called to his faithful dragon bitbeast, Ahmed smirked and called out "MAKER!" (**a/n: pronounced Maa-Ker**)

Tyson looked up at the fox bitbeast in slight awe, as she danced around Dragoon, who was completely unable to land a single hit on the opposing creature. Tyson growled in frustration as Ahmed's blade danced round Tyson's, Tyson looked back over to Kai for help, however Kai said nothing and just watched the blades flying around the dish.

"MAKER!" Ahmed yelled to his beast, who in a sudden flash began speeding towards Tyson's blade

"DRAGOON!" Tyson yelled out quickly,, causing the blades to meet head on, both clashed and cheers erupted, stopping as both blades flew passed our benches, embedding themselves deep into the stadium walls behind the benches. Cheers erupted once again as Jazzman began to shout.

"AND WE HAVE A TIE SITUATION, MEANING IT ALL HANGS IN TOMORROW'S BATTLE BETWEEN KAI AND SULTAN!!!" I glanced over at Kai who looked up at the Jazzman, back to me and then left the stadium.

Tyson wandered back with his head hung low, he walked up to the wall and pulled out his blade, with smashed into tiny pieces in his hand, leaving only his bit-chip in his hand.

"Sorry guys" he stated as he looked at Dragoon's chip which flashed comfortingly in his hand

"Let's get back to the dojo" Kenny suggested as the group headed outside to meet with the other teams

"It was a good match, very close" Robert tried to cheer up Tyson who smiled slightly

"I guess Kai'll just have to try extra hard tomorrow!" he punched the air forgetting his worries and moving on

"Come on. Let's get back home, we've got an entire day ahead of us!" Max laughed and began running "Last one on the bus is a rotten egg!" He ran round a corner and very suddenly everyone began running, myself included, and soon we were all sat, puffing, on the coach, waiting for Bruce to drive us back (we don't trust grandpa to drive).

Eventually we got moving and arrived back at the dojo for a day of doing nothing.

XXX

"Where's Kai?" Tala asked sleepily from his spot lying on the sofa

"Outside" Max replied glancing out the window. Tala sat up

"Maybe we should go out?" he stretched and stood up from the sofa, before heading for the front door, I decided to follow, along with Max, Mariah, Lee and Johnny

Kai was ripping the cord from his shooter furiously, letting all his anger out on a nearby rock

"Kai?" Tala stepped forward, Kai flicked his eyes over to us but straight after they were following his blade

"Don't you think you should have a break?" Max asked as Kai had been training for hours

"No" Kai replied bluntly "I have to win tomorrow, no excuses." He paused "Losing is the ultimate humiliation" he spoke like he had said that hundreds of times, his voice monotonous and emotionless, Tala took a step back, before walking back into the Dojo

I gave them all a look that clearly said 'move!' and we left him alone

"They said that in the Abbey" Tala looked at the dust flying in the sunlight from the window "That's what we had drilled into our heads" he looked down t the wooden floor "Day after day, night after night." He looked back up before sighing

"Tala and I went to the Abbey a little older than Kai, we knew our parents for longer than he did, I remember he was quite young, and he was told from the day he arrived to the day he escaped – that losing was the ultimate humiliation"

"The Abbey is the only thing Kai can remember, he wouldn't be able to recognize his parents if he saw them on the street. He clings on to his only memories" Bryan spoke seriously.

"What was he like in the Abbey?" Max asked as he sat on the sofa

"…" Tala looked over to Max "He was, so different, He smiled more, he was an optimist, there was always a silver lining to every cloud" Tala smiled fondly at the memory " I remember when he used to have a spark that never went out, he always challenged Boris and Voltaire, he could never let his free-will go"

"But then Boris and Voltaire had their wicked way with him, and it just vanished" Bryan finished

"What do you mean?" Tyson asked

"He stopped looking on the bright side, stopped challenging Boris and Voltaire; he used to follow their every order, yet still got punishments, for our mistakes. He began to live, only to keep us from harm – Boris and Voltaire loved every second of destroying him" Bryan spat angrily

Kai walked in just then and the conversation ended as suddenly as it had started

"Did you want to watch a film guys?" Mariah lied convincingly

"LEMME PICK!" Max ran to the large DVD collection and picked out a "horror" film, which we began to watch, although it wasn't overly scary, Max found it to be, he spent most of the time hidden behind a cushion

XXX

I woke up suddenly, the TV flickering occasionally, we must have all fallen asleep on the sofa as no-one had moved yet. Aside from Kai who had slept in the bedroom, but was already up.

"Get up" I shoved Max and soon everyone was awake, breakfast was served by Grandpa Granger, Kai wasn't eating, just drinking mug after mug of coffee, and soon we were on the bus heading for the stadium.

When we arrived Kai began to do a little extra training, as once again we were early, but team Hope turned up soon after and we were forced to leave.

We must have sat waiting in the 'locker' room for quite some time before we decided to make an entrance.

Kai was at the front of the group, he ignored the crowd completely as he entered; Tyson naturally began waving a cheering as did Max, I chose just to smile and sit, waiting for the match to begin.

Kai walked up to the dish and stood on his overhanging platform above the dish as Jazzman began to speak – no yell

"AND THE FINAL MATCH, EVERYTHING HANGS IN THE OUTCOME OF THIS BATTLE BETWEEN KAI FROM THE BLADEBREAKERS AND SULTAN FROM HOPE" I saw Kai flinch slightly from the loud voice, but it was barely noticeable "AND TODAY WE HAVE A DESERT THEMED DISH FOR THE BLADERS TO CONTEND WITH!"

"SO IN 3, 2, 1, LET IT RIP!!!" Jazzman screeched into his microphone, both the bladers ripped the cords from their shooters and the match begun

"Let's get this over with!" Sultan shouted to Kai who took no notice, his eyes followed the blades carefully

"SAQR!" he called, wasting no time in getting the match truly underway Kai glanced up briefly before continuing to watch the blades shoot around the dish, sand flying in all directions, Kai muttered something under his breath before he glanced up to see what Sultan was up to, again.

"Dranzer" Kai said loud enough for his bitbeast to respond and dodge an oncoming attack

"Don't mess me around!" Sultan shouted across at Kai, who just smirked

"SAQR!!" he shouted, a large golden falcon rose from his blade Kai glanced up at the large bird, I flapped its large wings quickly, and a blast of air swept over Kai, sending him stumbling back a few steps, he looked up angrily

"DRANZER!" Kai yelled angrily as he stepped forward to his original place.

The mighty red phoenix shot from her blade to face the falcon, which was almost twice Dranzer's size. Kai cursed under his breath and began mumbling to Dranzer.

"SANDSTORM!" Sultan yelled as his blade picked up speed, doing rings around Dranzer, the sand was picked up by the rushing wind and soon sand was flying all around the center – completely hiding both opponents from our view. Max began to panic

"KAI?!" Max ran forward a few steps; however Tyson jumped forward and grabbed hold of his arm

"Leave this match to Kai" he pulled Max back to the bench and sat down, Max unwillingly sat back down and stared at the big screen hoping to catch a glimpse of Kai, The sand continued to swirl around the dish.

**Kai's POV**

I looked around, but the sand was so thick I couldn't see anything, barely my own hands. I looked around a bit more, whipping my head from side-to-side but regretted it as a wave of dizziness spread over me

The sand began to fall again, and finally I could see my glowing blade spinning in the middle of the dish

**Ray's POV**

Finally Kai came back into view, but so did a wobbling Dranzer, Kai slumped slightly and I glanced up into the stands at Tala who was leaning against the railing at the front of the audience and looked worried – none of us had ever seen Kai look so beaten after the first attack

"COME ON DRANZER!" Kai screamed at his blade, which straightened itself up, spun faster and prepared an attack for Sultan

Sultan grinned evilly "This is FAR from over!" he laughed as his blade spun quickly to match Dranzer, Kai stumbled ever so slightly but stayed as strong as possible

"DRANZER BLAZING GIGS!!!" Kai called to his blade but the attack wasn't even started as Saqr shot into Kai blades sending it into the side of the dish, leaving a large dent. Kai glared at Sultan before shouting "Dranzer!" Who charged forward to attack, as did Saqr, the blades clashed and both bladers were sent stumbling back, Kai a little more than Sultan

Both bladers glared at each other, neither willing to give up.

"DRANZER!"

"SAQR!" they yelled in unison – both blades shot towards each other – Sultans blade sent Dranzer flying with such force that as she collided with Kai's platform, it crumbled and he plummeted to the floor of the dish in a heap.

The camera gave us a clear shot of Kai on the floor, but I dashed forward anyway, Tala jumped over the railing of the audience and we shot to the edge of the dish calling his name

He struggled to pull himself up for a moment, feebly, but fell back to the floor again.

"Kai! End this now, it doesn't matter, just end the match!" Max pleaded

**Kai's POV**

I tried to push myself up but couldn't seem to muster up enough strength to

"Kai! End this now, it doesn't matter, just end the match!" Max pleaded

That caught my attention, I tried to push myself up again – and eventually managed to get on my knees and slowly to my feet

"This is enough Kai" Tala said from behind me

**Ray's POV**

Kai spoke angrily to Tala "This. Is. My. Fight" he turned his head to glare at Tala "Leave me be" his face was badly scratched and he had a dark bruise forming over his left cheek bone, but he still looked threatening.

He turned back to the match and looked up at Sultan – we all headed back to the bench, including Tala who sat with us for the remainder of the match.

"Dranzer!" Kai called, the phoenix shot towards Sultan's blade who smashed into Dranzer, sending her flying backwards towards Kai, who only just dived out of the way in time, his vision shot back up as he lunged forward from his crouching position, Dranzer mimicking his movements and shooting towards Saqr.

The blades clashed, Sand flying in all directions, Kai stumbled back a few paces, but soon regained his balance and headed in for another attack

"AND KAI'S WASTING NO TIME IN TRYING TO END THIS BATTLE" Jazzman yelled loudly

Kai glanced upwards and was very suddenly thrown backwards from the force of an attack which he wasn't prepared for. He hit the floor roughly and rolled back about a meter before coughing and slowly pulling himself up.

He glanced up at Sultan who had a smug smirk plastered on his face, Kai growled in frustration and stood up as straight as he could manage – which wasn't all that straight.

"End this Dranzer" I mere whisper, but with the many microphones – it was heard clearly Dranzer puffed up her golden feather and headed in for the final attack

The entire stadium filled with a bright white light from Dranzer, and a loud clash echoed through the stadium as the blades clashed for the final time.

As the light faded, Kai was leaning against the wall heavily, his arms hanging by his sides, he slid down the stone wall so he was sat on the floor, Sultan was a few feet from the dish, lying on his back from the force of the attack. He pushed himself up slowly and gasped as he noticed his blade at his feet, in two pieces, while Dranzer spun proudly in the center of the dish. Kai grinned from his spot in the dish and stood up before pulling himself back out.

"KAI THAT WAS AWESOME!" Max and Tyson ran forward cheering and screaming

"AND KAI WINS – THE BLADEBREAKERS ARE ONCE AGAIN THE WORLD CHAMPIONS!" Jazzman screamed in excitement

All the teams were jumping over the railings to get to us to congratulate us, Kai grinned the entire time – but to me it looked fake – however I said nothing.

I'll just have to wait and see how everything goes.

**Wahey. Now miako6 is waiting for this, so I thought I'd better finish there for now. Well, I'm BAAAAACK!!! Haha! Lol, sorry I've just had a LOT of coffee and I'm REALLY hyper! ITS SO AWESOME! **

**Well – review and all the usual stuff!!!! I love hearing from you!**

**Bye!!!!**

**xflightofthephoenix**


	2. What's wrong?

**Ray's POV**

Everyone piled into the large hotel room Mr. Dickenson had rented, the table was covered with different foods. Banners lined the room, music was thumping in the corner and I smiled as Tyson and Max made a dash for the food.

At about 11pm, Mr. Dickenson left, along with Judy, Bruce and Grandpa Granger. Leaving us teens to continue partying.

"Where's Kai?" I heard Tyson shout over the thumping music, which Tala had turned up almost as soon as we saw the adults car pull away.

Tyson ran over and turned the music down although it was still quite loud "Where's Kai?" Everyone looked around the room stupidly

"Well he obviously isn't in here!" I snapped, just as the door opened, said youngest teen staggered in, half empty bottle of vodka in hand.

He raised his hand with the bottle in it and looked at the floor before swaying in time with the music and then taking a long swig from the bottle.

"Kai!" Emily burst out seeing him stumble slightly just from standing still.

He looked up with unfocused eyes – like he had so many times before – only this was self-inflicted. He grinned, only Kai was very unlike any other drunk I had EVER seen. Most people got clumsy, made a prat of themselves (I knew this from the time Kevin got drunk back at the old village, before I left) yet Kai, just got more confident, a LOT more confident

"Kai are you ok?" Max stepped forward Kai looked up with a grin and a stumble, Tala wrapped his arm around Kai's waste to stop the younger teen from hurting himself

"Fine" he drawled while chuckling and taking another swig from the bottle of black label vodka which was covered in Russian writing – I don't know much about Vodka, but I DO know that Russian stuff is strong.

Kai chuckled slightly and continued to drink the alcohol like water, for a moment his face was VERY close to Tala's, however the red-head guided him to a chair and Kai sighed tiredly, he looked pale and like he was going to throw up.

He held his head and covered his ears, which Tala took as his sign to turn off the thumping music, we all sat around watching Kai take the odd sip from the bottle.

He sighed and leant back in his chair, he tightly screwed the lid back onto the almost empty bottle of alcohol, before looking up at the ceiling. The bottle slipped from his grip, but landed on the soft carpet with a thump. He hiccupped quietly and chuckled at himself.

Tala grabbed the bottle before Kai could even notice he wasn't holding it, the youngest teen looked at his hand then the floor before looking up at Tala with a grin "Give it back Tala" he almost purred, I gulped, seeing a drastic mood swing coming from Kai

Tala shook his head and gripped the bottle tighter behind his back "You've had enough"

"Now" Kai growled standing up, but stumbling forward a few steps, into Tala who had jumped up to stop his younger friend from hurting himself. The bottle lay forgotten on the sofa.

"Time for sleep I think" Robert looked worriedly at Kai who was trying to grab the bottle from Tala, who had picked it up and held it above his head, being taller than Kai, he had the upper hand.

Johnny laughed evilly and stood up, Kai, sensing the movement turned around to face the taller Scotsman.

"What?" Kai asked angrily

"Can't handle your drink??" Johnny smirked taking the bottle from Tala, Kai slumped back in his chair, paler than before, his blue tattoos contrasting sharply with his skin.

He looked up at the laughing Johnny before suddenly running and stumbling to the bathroom. Tala looked at me before chuckling and following to help him.

After almost half an hour, Tala came out of the bathroom carrying a sleeping Kai in his arms

"Where can I leave him?" Tala asked, Robert pointed to the bedroom and Tala left Kai there for the night

XXX

I woke up quite late in the morning; Kai was slumped on the table, a steaming coffee in front of him. He dashed into the bathroom and returned a few minutes later, pale and shaky. Tala sighed and pushed Kai's coffee closer to the youngest teen. The slate-haired teen slowly drank his coffee gratefully and I sat at the table.

Breakfast was quiet; Kai spent most of the time holding his head, Johnny spent a lot of the time chuckling to himself, although we could all hear – I noticed Kai's expression going from one of "I have a hangover" to "Will you shut the fuck up?"

"Will you shut up?!" Kai growled looking up suddenly, before grabbing his head in pain and then growling in the back of his throat.

The room fell completely silent, until Tala spoke "How much did you drink Kai?"

The slate-haired teen looked up slowly, and shrugged before slowly standing up to return to the bathroom.

Tala sighed

Max looked around before speaking "It's been such a long time since Kai was happy" Emily looked over at everyone before very carefully wording her sentence

"Maybe Kai's had enough of blading?"

"Or the team" Johnny snorted

"I never thought of that!" Max replied alarmed "do you really think he would give up blading though??"

"Well, it does SEEM he has had enough of blading, or indeed being a bladebreaker. Yet, I don't see Kai as the type to hang around if this is the case" Lee stepped forward

"Maybe he doesn't want to hurt us, so he's going to stick around for as long as he can??"

"Or drink himself into oblivion" Johnny chuckled

"I never thought I'd see the day Kai was drunk!" Tyson laughed

"The last time I saw him drunk was when he was about 8" Tala sighed and dropped his head on the table with a thud "He's always been good at handling alcohol, I dread to think how much he drank yesterday to get into that state"

Just as Tala finished Kai re-entered the room and the conversation ended

Kai grabbed his coffee and drank it quickly, then started up the coffee machine again. He poured himself a black coffee, and drank it straight, no milk, no sugar. As he poured another coffee, I noticed his hands were shaking. He sat at the table and placed his hands flat on the table, but he looked to be shivering

"You look cold Kai" I stated carefully "You should go put a jacket on"

Kai nodded and got up, before returning with a black jacket on over his usual clothes.

He drank his coffee slowly while we began to make arrangements for the day

"We could go to the cinema?!" Max suggested, 'yes's' and 'no's' filled the room

The room fell silent, and a quite tapping filled the room, the heavens opened and ran began to fall, and fall

"Ok, so we can't go out" Tyson sighed "What do you wanna do instead?"

Tala again dropped his head on the table with a thud "This is going to be a long day" was his muffled response Kai looked other with a small smile, he then took another large mouthful of coffee.

Everyone began to move about the house, doing anything to keep themselves from going mad, a few select people were in the living room, some in the bedrooms, Mariah and Emily were having a chat in the kitchen.

And, Kai. Was sat staring out of the window, longing to leave for a while. He never did well around people, and by now he would have been out for at least a few hours. His eyes were fixed on one spot outside and I sighed wishing he would talk to us like he was our friend.

"You ok Kai?" Max asked from the sofa

Kai tore his eyes from the outside world for a few minutes

He looked at Max before tilting his head slightly – a nod.

He got up and wandered off to another room

"There's definitely something not right there" Emily stated as she and Mariah walked back into the living room

"He's been so down recently, maybe he's depressed?" Max suggested

"Maybe, or _maybe_ he's just being a git" Johnny supplied with a smug smile

"I'm worried" Tyson countered "Kai's always been anti-social, but he's been a LOT worse recently"

"Maybe he really has had enough of the team?" I asked, the idea of Kai wanting to quit had been niggling away in the back of my mind for so long and I couldn't help myself but to voice my concerns

"Well, if he has then he would have probably gone by now" Tala answered, which comforted me a little "I've tried talking to him" he continued "He won't explain to me what's bothering him"

"He owes us _all _an explanation" Johnny snorted

"Yeah" Emily added

"Give him a bit more time!" Tala snapped "Sorry" he was quick to apologize

"It must be difficult for you as well Tala" Robert looked over at the red-head sympathetically Tala sighed

"He never talks to me anymore" Tala sighed dejectedly "I'm worried about him"

"Just remember guys, this _is _Kai we're talking about, he's never been the most social person in the world" Max said optimistically

"Yeah" Tyson looked at the window where Kai had previously been sat. "He'll be fine – after all he is the 'though guy'" Tyson smirked as Johnny snorted

"I'd like to see you try and win a fight against him!" I defended hearing Tala growl in annoyance

"I could win a fight against Kai with my hands tied behind my back!" Johnny laughed taking a gulp of water

"Go on then" Tala growled "You give it a go, what flowers would you like at your funeral?" he growled angrily

"pfft" Johnny snorted chucking a glass of water over the red head and sitting on the sofa

Tala jumped up fuming – but Bryan held him back

"Go get changed" Was all the teen said before letting him go and sitting back down

Tala walked off into the bedroom to get changed.

"That was so out of order Johnny" Max scowled

Tala came back in a few minutes later in a fresh set of clothes "He's sleeping" He sat down next to Bryan

"Kai?? Sleeping?!" Tyson mocked

"Yeah, out like a light" Tala sighed and looked up at the ceiling

"But, it's only lunch-time!" Max stated astonished

"Yeah, I might ring Mr. Dickenson" Tyson sat up straight and walked over to the hotel-phone

"Mr. Dickenson??" he said a moment later

"Yeah – we need to talk to you about Kai, can you come to our hotel for a while??"

There was a pause as Mr. Dickenson spoke

"Thanks Mr. Dickenson" Tyson said putting the phone down

"He'll be here soon" He turned to face us all, as the bedroom door opened and Kai walked through to the kitchen, still sleepy and slightly unbalanced, fully dressed in crumpled clothes – his hair all over the place. He walked back through minutes later with a glass of water in hand, wandered back into the bedroom and quietly closed the door

I glanced worriedly over at Tala who just looked at the door, then quickly over at me.

15 odd minutes later Mr. Dickenson turned up

"Something is wrong with Kai?" Mr. Dickenson said as soon as he walked in

"Very wrong" Tyson replied, "See" He led Mr. Dickenson over to the bedroom, pushed open the door, Kai was fast asleep

"I'm afraid I don't understand" Mr. Dickenson scratched his head

"Kai NEVER sleeps during the day AND night!" Tyson waved his arms about dramatically and spoke loudly – yet Kai didn't stir

"I understand, but maybe he's just worn out after his match" Mr. Dickenson reasoned

"Kai never gets tired after a single battle!!!" Tyson argued "There's something wrong – I'm telling you!"

Tyson pulled the door shut and sat on the sofa, Max moved over to make space for Mr. Dickenson to sit as well.

"Even if there is, as you say, something wrong with Kai. There isn't anything I can do about it, unless Kai directly tells me, or it seriously affects his health, which it doesn't look like it is at the moment" Mr. Dickenson stated

"What id he's depressed?" Max asked carefully

"Depressed?!" Mr. Dickenson spluttered as if the thought had never crossed his mind, it has crossed mine many, and I'm sure everyone else's.

"Well, yeah" Emily said "He does seem like he's depressed"

"Don't be ridiculous!!" Mr. Dickenson spluttered again

"We're not!" Tala growled "Or are you too blind to see that something's wrong?!"

"I understand Tala" Mr. Dickenson tried to stay calm, yet his voice did rise slightly

"Well then help us figure out what's wrong!" Tala sighed defeated as Mr. Dickenson looked over to the bedroom door.

An awkward silence fell upon the room, I shifted uncomfortably, thankfully Kai left the room and soon everyone was occupied with watching him. He pulled a black leather jacket on along with some gloves, pulled on some boots and sighed.

He had sorted himself out and headed over to the door, Tala was about to stop him, but Mr. Dickenson held up his hand and we let Kai leave.

"Try and get back into a routine" Mr. Dickenson began "Maybe if you do that Kai will become a bit more responsive"

"Right, then we start training tomorrow!" Tala stated, clearly worried for his boyfriend. (**A/n: Yes, you read it correctly. But nothing detailed)**

XXX

Mr. Dickenson left after an hour or so, and at almost 10:30pm Kai finally returned

"Good!" I smiled as he walked in "We're starting training tomorrow" Kai tilted his head in silent question "It's about time we got back to work" I smiled as Kai tilted his head even more and blinked

He opened his mouth, but said nothing and sat down next to the older red-head who smiled slightly

"What time?" The bluenette spoke quietly

"don't know" I replied, "What time do you think Tala?" I asked the older teen

"9??" I looked around to various nods and yes's

"Right" The youngest teen sighed and headed off to the bedroom, Tala glanced awkwardly at his back before following.

"He's not getting any better" Tyson sighed

"Let's see what he's like in the morning" Max got up and soon we were all asleep, except for me, I can't get it out of my head. Something is seriously wrong, and I have to know what!

XXX

I woke up early, at 6:30am, along with everyone else.

A loud crash had woken us all, from none other than Kai, who had dropped a glass of water, his hands were shaking violently and I worried. Tala pulled himself up to guide Kai to a chair while I cleared up the broken glass

"You ok buddy?" Tyson asked Kai looked up with dull eyes and nodded

Tyson glanced over at Max who shrugged and watched Kai sympathetically

"You're shaking Kai" Emily stated

"I know!" Kai snapped back not looking at the girl

"KAI!" Robert scolded; he was strongly against being disrespectful to women

Kai glared up at Robert – without his usual intense crimson eyes, it was all the creepier

"Come on you two!" Mariah stepped in, Kai dropped his eyes back down to the table, and Robert muttered some form of an apology

"Now, Kai, you need to calm down" She looked at the youngest teen

Kai glared upwards at her but said nothing

"I'm going to train" he stated slamming his shaking hands on the table

He got up quickly and left us all stunned

"Leave him" Tala sat down in the seat Kai had previously sat in as I chucked the broken glass in the bin

I looked out the window and could see Kai walk across the street and into the woods to train

"Breakfast??" Tyson asked sheepishly, I sighed

"Fine" I got up and began to make breakfast for the group, but toast and jams were the limit today

"Cheers Ray!" Tyson began to cram toast into his mouth, I cringed at his pig-like eating and tried my best to eat my breakfast

"Shall we head out to check he's ok?" I looked around the room

"Nah" Johnny snorted, Tala glared over at him "He's a big boy now, let him handle himself"

"He's only 15!" Tala snarled "The youngest person here!"

Johnny looked taken aback but nevertheless spoke confidently "Like I said, he can handle himself"

"You just don't care, do you?!" Mariah glared at him

"Not really, he's a stubborn git, I couldn't care less what happens to him" Johnny growled, Tala narrowed his eyes at the red-head

"He's not stubborn, he just doesn't open up easily" I defended our captain

"Stubborn" Johnny smirked as Tala growled louder

"Lets go!" Max hurriedly stated narrowly avoiding Johnny getting a severe beating

We all left the hotel – including the Scotsman, and headed into the woods to search for Kai

XXX

"My feet hurt" Tyson whined "It's been ages, I'm hungry! Can't we stop for a bit?" He continued

"Tyson, it's been fifteen minutes, you ate twenty minutes ago and no we cannot stop for a break" Tala snapped

"Dranzer!" I heard a distant call

"That's gotta be Kai" Tyson took off at a run, soon we were all shooting along the path startling nearby walkers and other young bladers. We came skidding/crashing around a corner and Kai came into view.

He leant heavily against a tree as we came into his view, he sighed and gently rubbed a nasty dark bluey/puerpley/blacky bruise on his arm with a pained expression

As Tyson managed to get us all noticed, he looked up and was instantly the untouchable leader he used to be

"Kai?" Tyson asked quietly

"What?!" he snapped in reply, Tyson flinched slightly at the coldness of Kai's voice but nevertheless pressed on

"What's wrong with your arm?" he asked, tilting his head to the bruise

"Nothing" Kai snarled

"Clearly not" Johnny smirked

"And who asked you?!" Kai growled, Johnny looked momentarily shocked, but then just laughed, which only made Kai angrier

"Was there a REASON to you being here?" he directed at the entire group

"We're worried about you!" Tala blurted out suddenly, Kai's expression suddenly changed from anger to shock – his eyes widened and his mouth was slightly open

"Why?" he asked quietly

"Because you're not yourself at the moment" Emily looked over at Kai sadly, hoping he would give us an honest answer

"You're being even more stubborn than usual, you're being even more anti-social, you have an even shorter temper than usual, hard as it may be to believe" Johnny rambled on, Kai growled loudly at Johnny, who shut up immediately

"I'm fine, or do I need to spell it out for you?" Kai snapped

"Go on then!" Tala snarled back losing his temper with his partner

"I don't NEED this Tala!" He growled and stepped forward, Tala doing the same till they were face to…well shoulders, because Kai was shorter, but still

"JUST.LEAVE. ME. ALONE" Kai growled

"And if I don't?" Tala snapped at the younger boy

"You do my head in!" Kai grabbed his hair, and without warning Tala gave him a hard shove and turned away

**Tala's POV**

I gave Kai a shove and turned to walk away, however everyone's shocked faces made me turn back around

I saw Kai fall backwards, as if in slow motion, he collided with the floor painfully, his head almost bounced, he let out a small cry of pain and I dashed forward.

I picked him up and leant him on my arms holding up his head which started to bleed over my hands and sleeves

"I'm sorry!" I repeated over and over

Kai opened his eyes slightly and smiled

"It's ok" he whispered with a small grin

He slowly pushed himself up, with my help and we decided to head back to the hotel.

The trip back was a lot longer than it was to find Kai, he walked the entire way refusing help, occasionally he stumbled over his own feet; the back of his hair was almost black where the blood was changing the blue colour darker.

"Maybe we should take you to get your head checked over? Kai" Oliver asked, Kai didn't turn around, but shook his head

Enrique glanced over at Oliver and shrugged, soon we found ourselves in the hotel again, and Kai was once again shut up in the bedroom, not wishing to talk to any of us

"He's SO annoying" Tyson grumbled as he lay on his back on the sofa

"Yes, Tyson, you've said about eight times now" Emily sighed agitatedly

"But it's TRUE!" he whined

Emily just sighed in response. The bedroom door opened moments later and Kai wandered out, he had cleaned up his head, but looked very pale and I began to worry that more damage was done than I had originally thought

He leant against the wall and looked out the window without saying a word.

"So….." Max began "Are we still training?" he looked around. I shook my head seeing no-one else respond

Tyson sighed loudly "Well I'm not gunna mope round all day!" He sat up "Maxie – you wanna go to the arcade?" Max nodded and soon almost everyone headed to the arcade, leaving me and Kai behind

Kai wordlessly sat next to me

"You ready to tell me what's wrong now?" I asked

Kai looked over at me with wide eyes "I have no idea" he whispered, his breathing hitched for a second before speeding up

"Huh?" I tilted my head in question

"I have no idea!" He cried, his eyes widening

"Calm down" I put my hand on his shoulder, but it just made him worse

"I'm scared Tala!" he choked a cry

"Try to calm down Kai!" I tried to keep Kai from injuring himself further

"What do you mean you have no idea?" I asked carefully

"I know, I KNOW there's something very wrong, but I have no idea what!" he panicked "I feel like I SHOULD know, but I don't, I can't work it out and I can't stop it!" he pulled his knees up onto the sofa and wrapped his arms around them "I should know what's wrong" he cried into his jeans

I wrapped my arms around him as he began to shake

"What's happening to me?" he whispered so I only just heard him.

"I just don't know" I replied sadly

**Chapter 2 done. YAY! Although lot's of my old readers/reviewers aren't reading/reviewing lol.**

**Please read and review! It makes me write more!!!**

'**Till next time**

**xflightofthephoenix**


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